2 northern companies announce plans for new food production hub in Enterprise, N.W.T.

Two northern companies are joining forces to turn a plot of land near Enterprise, N.W.T., into a hub for food production.

This week, North Star Agriculture and AWP Industries announced plans to ready 400 acres of land allocated from a portion of the 320-hectares that AWP has been developing for a potential wood pellet mill for a variety of agricultural projects.

They say the aim is to eventually create a working farm, complete with crops, livestock, and food processing facilities.

Sonny Gray is the founder of North Star in Whitehorse, which has kickstartedseveral projects in the Yukon. Speaking to CBC on Wednesday, he said both companies are excited about the new venture.

"There's very different elements of the agrifood business that will be happening on the property, but there's lots of opportunity there, so that's why we really felt that this was a good fit," Gray said.

"We see a bigger picture, and we see the potential this will have in terms of social impact, economical impact, and so on."

Part industrial park, part farmland

The plot of land in question is located about four kilometres north of Enterprise off of Highway 1.

Brad Mapes, owner of AWP Industries, said he's put about $30 million into preparing it for industrial use since purchasing it in 2016, even building a section of railway that leads directly to the site.

Wanting to utilize as much of the property as possible, Mapes said he began talking with North Star about the potential for agriculture over a year ago.

"There's a lot of areas that aren't going to be used for our industry side of it, so we wanted to create an opportunity for them to look at farming," he said.

"I also want to see employment for the local community. I think the agricultural side will give a lot of entry level jobs for the surrounding area residents. That's key to my business vision of the site."

Mapes added: "I'm pretty excited to work with them."

According to Gray, the location lends itself well to commercial endeavours.

For instance, both the railway and nearby highway offer access for importing supplies. Thatprovides the option to ship food to northern Alberta or northern B.C., if there isn't enough demand in the N.W.T. market to shore up production costs.

"In the North, we need to maximize every opportunity that we have to make it as economically feasible as possible to grow food," Gray said. "[This is] a good place for farming, and it's kind of the gateway to the rest of the communities and Yellowknife."

Growing the N.W.T.'s agrifood sector

Kevin Wallington is the owner of Polar Egg in Hay River and chair of the N.W.T. agrifood association. He's joined North Star to head up the project in Enterprise, which marks the company's first in the territory.

Wallington detailed a number of visions for those 400 acres, such as constructing an abattoir for meat production or installing a hydroponic greenhouse to grow leafy greens.

He said the first order of business will likely be preparing about 100 acres of soil to plant vegetable crops, potentially as soon as next spring.

"We've already started to lay out some of the plans on what could be done," Wallington said.

"We want to make sure that we can start to build confidence with those that we're going to be working with and the communities we're working in, that we're serious about what we're doing here and we want to see this move."

Wallington said North Star will be engaging with Enterprise council, Indigenous groups, and other producers in the area over the next year to determine what should be prioritized.

However, he said the ultimate goal is to grow the N.W.T. agrifood sector.

"We've already seen significant commitment from many people in their different ways," Wallington said. He listed Riverside Growers in Hay River, Sahtu Gardens in Norman Wells, and the Inuvik Community Greenhouse as examples.

"We're hoping that this will just be able to build on some of those successes and open some new doors maybe even attract people to come to the North and be a part of building this sector.

"At the end of the day, we want to make sure that there are opportunities for people to be able to buy local, nutritious foods that are being grown and processed and distributed in the Northwest Territories."